


Also Known As: Ma'am

by evieeden



Series: Also Known As [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: BAMF Natasha Romanov, F/M, Male-Female Friendship, Red Room (Marvel), SHIELD, The Avengers (2012) - Freeform, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:26:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25550524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evieeden/pseuds/evieeden
Summary: Tony Stark doesn't play well with others. Didn't anyone actually read Natasha's report?A continuation of the Also Known As universe.
Relationships: Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark, Natasha Romanov/Tony Stark, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark
Series: Also Known As [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1851478
Comments: 5
Kudos: 85





	Also Known As: Ma'am

**Author's Note:**

> Hi All.
> 
> So, I watched Iron Man 2 again at the weekend. And then spat this out pretty much straight away afterwards so clearly a part of me still loves this Natasha and Tony. I hope you enjoy reading this and please forgive any mistakes (I pretty much just wrote this and then posted it straight away).
> 
> Happy reading :)

She hated Tony Stark.

Oh sure, she had been grateful, even a bit relieved, when he had showed up in Stuttgart to help apprehend Loki. It certainly made taking out the target a lot easier than trying to find a lucky shot to take without hitting Rogers. And she’d definitely appreciated the drama of his entrance, even though he had had Jarvis hack her comms in order to play Shoot to Thrill.

At first, she had even harboured the dream that he could play well with others. After all, hadn’t she seen him and Rhodey work in perfect sync at the Expo when Hammer’s drones attacked.

But the second – she swore it was the exact second – he got on the quinjet, he immediately started needling Rogers.

Natasha wasn’t the most sensitive of people given her upbringing – something Clint could attest to – but even she was aware of reminding Rogers of the time when he crashed a plane to save the world, accidentally cryo-froze himself and then woke up only to find out he’d lost it all was not the best tactic to take with the super-soldier.

The arrival of Thor only seemed to make him worse, shooting out insults here, there and everywhere, regardless of target.

By the time they got to the helicarrier, she needed a break, otherwise the temptation to snap someone’s neck would be too strong.

She let Fury deal with Thor, Loki and the introductions between the rest of his initiative. It was his plan to put such a volatile combination of individuals together, she’d let him deal with the consequences. She had given him her evaluation on Stark. It wasn’t her fault if it blew up in his face.

Retreating into the hall behind the main bridge, she slipped away to Hill’s office. Luckily for her, the deputy had a search for Clint up on her computer already, which saved Natasha the hassle of hacking into the system to find out where he was. He hadn’t been in Germany – at least, not where Loki was – so he was still in play. Loki had been too docile on the ride over so she knew there was still something they were missing there, but she knew Clint well enough to know that she needed to keep an eye out there too.

Sighing heavily, she rubbed a hand over her eyes.

What she really needed was sleep, but she didn’t think that would be happening anytime soon, especially with the testosterone brigade down.

Deep breaths, one thing at a time.

Standing, she moved back towards the lab that Fury had set up for Banner and Stark, only to nearly crash into Rogers, who sidled around the corner looking behind him.

Well well. Everyone was surprising her today.

“Agent Romanoff.”

She nearly smiled. He would never have made a good spy, she thought. He didn’t have the poker face for it.

“Captain Rogers.”

He looked at the corridor behind her as if he was considering shoving her out of the way and running for it. Definitely not an innocent wander around the helicarrier then. Still, she could be nothing if not helpful.

“Are you looking for something?”

He laughed self-consciously, one hand coming up to rub the back of his neck. “Ummm, weapons?”

Yeah, definitely not spy material.

“Is the shield not enough?” she asked lightly. “I know Coulson was very keen to have it in its best working order for you.”

He winced. She could sympathise.

“Agent Coulson has been very…accommodating.”

He was adorable. “I’m sure he has.”

He seemed to recognise that she was making fun as he shot her a grin. “I’m used to carrying a sidearm as well as the shield. I figure I can use all the help I can get in these times.”

She cocked her head. Maybe he could be a good spy after all, especially if he was already capable of twisting the truth just enough that it didn’t ring false. Besides, if they were going to be working together on this, then she could learn to be generous with her information.

“The armoury’s two floors down. They’ll have what you need.”

He nodded his thanks and moved past her.

“But if you’re looking for something special…” She let her voice linger on the word special and knew he heard it when he froze mid-step. “…then I’m sure Fury has some fun toys to play with on Level 4. Section D usually.”

See! Look at her playing nicely with others. That’d teach Clint that she could make friends.

Rogers turned back to study her face. She didn’t know what he saw there, but it must have reassured him. “Thank you, Ma’am.”

She smiled as he left and spun around, only to nearly walk headfirst into Stark. She really needed Clint to come back so she could finally get some sleep. That was twice in nearly five minutes and she couldn’t afford for her situational awareness to be affected.

She forced a blank look onto her face. Sure, she and Stark had been all friendly the last time they’d had a proper conversation, but from the looks of it, he’d been gearing for a fight since they picked up Loki. It made her wonder what was really going on with that sceptre the Asgardian had been wielding.

“Miss Rushman.”

Ah, so that was how he wanted to play it. “Mr Stark.”

“I was surprised to see you in Germany.”

She smiled inwardly at that. Like she didn’t know that Fury had sent Coulson to butter him up with a file on the Initiative and Pegasus. “No, you weren’t.”

“No, I wasn’t,” he admitted. “But it’s fun to pretend we don’t know each other’s deepest darkest little secrets, isn’t it?”

She shrugged. “Depends on if we’re sharing them publicly. Like, how soon should we expect Jarvis to be able to completely hack SHIELD’s system?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” His reply was immediate.

“Sure, you don’t.”

Turning away from him, she ducked into the nearest empty room – storage for the med bay, she thought – and waited for him to follow her. It only took a second.

“I have to say I was expecting a warmer greeting,” he shot out glibly. “You know, hugs, tears, flutterings of joy at seeing your long lost boss again.”

“Pepper was my boss at Stark Enterprises,” she curbed him.

“Yeah, Pepper.” He turned to face her, a curious smile on his face. “What exactly did you say to her before you left? Because I brought up your name once, just in casual conversation, and she fairly bit my head off. At first, I thought it was some sort of natural, mating order fight going on,” she frowned at him, “but then I realised that you’d been getting on up to that point so something else must have happened.”

He waited. If Natasha had her own way he’d be waiting for a long time. Stark seemed to realise this.

“Was it something you said?” A look of manic glee crossed his face. “Was it something _she_ said? Did she get territorial over me?” He looked delighted at the thought.

Natasha hauled herself up onto a table. She briefly considered lying, but then decided that Stark would expect her to do that. “We came to an understanding, that’s all.”

Stark hopped up next to her. “Right. An understanding. Of course. I get it.”

He clearly didn’t.

Instead, he took her silence as consent to reach out and tug on a strand of her hair. “I’m liking the shorter look, by the way. Makes you look far more terrifying. Much less sex kitten.”

She smiled, but quickly covered it up. From his snort, she assumed that she might as well have not bothered.

“You’re a very public person, Stark, which meant being around you as your assistant made me public too. It’s amazing how many people don’t recognise you after a haircut.”

As per usual, he ignored what she was saying and picked out what he wanted to hear instead.

“Stark? You wound me. Whatever happened to Tony?” he teased.

“Miss Rushman?” she shot back.

He kicked her ankle lightly with one foot. Not in the mood for playing his games, she kicked him back harder, enjoying the soft grunt of pain.

She refused to do this with him again. Either their truce from before held or he was going to have to get over it. Strangely, it hurt a little bit that in the time they had been absent from each other’s lives, he had decided to rebuild the walls between them.

“I just didn’t want to blow your cover in case Cap was still lurking around,” he retorted. She immediately picked up on the edge in his voice.

“Is that why you came to find me, Stark? To see what Rogers was up to?”

He shrugged, clearly discomfited by her insight. “You disappear then he disappears. It makes you wonder.”

Right, okay. Clearly he wasn’t as over Natalie Rushman as he pretended to be.

“Is that what you think I’m doing?” she asked. “Buttering up Rogers so he’ll play nice?”

“Isn’t that what you do?”

She shrugged. “Sometimes. Depends on the target.” She wasn’t in the mood for games or lies.

Stark turned to study her face carefully. She kept her eyes fixed on nothing opposite. Let him try to work out what game she was playing. For now, she was on what little break she’d get before Fury sent her in to interrogate Loki. She didn’t have time for Stark’s ego.

He nudged her again. This time she didn’t kick him back.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you liked him.”

“Who?”

“Captain Stuck-in-the-Mud out there.”

Correction. No time for his ego or his latent daddy issues.

“I do like him.” She could feel Stark almost recoil at her words. “What’s not to like?”

Stark jumped off the table and began pacing. “Well, he’s condescending for one. Self-important, old-fashioned, too used to giving orders…”

She interrupted. “Whereas you are?”

Stark gasped in fake shock. “Are you saying that we’re alike?”

“I’m saying give him a break.”

“You do!” The shock seemed real this time. “You _do_ like him!” He quit his pacing to turn and stare at her.

“What’s not to like?” she repeated. “He’s polite, respectful, didn’t question me when I gave him orders, talked to face instead of my tits…”

“…in all fairness, they are magnificent…”

“…and he called me Ma’am. No-one’s ever called me Ma’am before.”

“I could call you Ma’am,” Stark pouted.

She gave him a look, gratified when it seemed to chasten him, for a second at least. “He’s courteous and I think we could work reasonably well together. What more would I want?”

Stark mumbled something to himself that she couldn’t be bothered to try and decipher. No doubt it wasn’t something complimentary.

She rolled her eyes. “No-one’s asking you to like him, Stark, just be considerate of the fact that a month ago he woke to find out that his world was gone and everyone he loved was dead. Even you’d be a little prickly if that happened to you.”

Stark grumbled again, but it was less vehement than before so she hoped something she had said would get through to him. She could dream anyway. He moved to lean on the wall opposite, facing her.

“But I’m still your favourite, right?”

Oh god! He just couldn’t leave it alone.

“No-one is my favourite.” That wasn’t quite true. “My favourite is the person who causes me the least headaches.”

Stark grinned. “So for now…that’s Bruce.”

Maybe it was the headache, or maybe terrorists had missed a trick over the years by not having a Tony Stark to set loose on their enemies, but she cracked, a half-smile on her face. Stark’s grin got wider, clearly pleased at her response.

“Right. That’s it entirely,” she offered. “After all this, I’m eloping with Dr Banner.”

“I think if you’re eloping with anyone, you should probably be on first-name terms with them.”

Natasha rolled her head back, stretching out the tension in her muscles as best she could. “I’m not sure we’re quite there yet.”

“First names or eloping?”

“Both.”

Stark glanced at the floor, before peering up at her. It was an oddly young move, hesitant, but his voice was still teasing when he spoke. “What about people you are on first name terms with?”

She smiled, a real one this time. “I don’t think Pepper would be too happy about that.”

Stark seemed to remember himself, straightening from his slump. “Right, Pepper. Got to keep her happy, you know.”

She did know. And just like that the spell was broken.

“I know,” she replied. She sighed and stretched her arms above her head. “I should get back out there. You too,” she added, “we’ve all got work to do.”

“Yeah, work.” he blinked and then extended a hand to help her off the table. She didn’t need the help, but it was nice to be offered it all the same.

Stark reached the door to the storage room first and swept it open, gesturing for her to walk back out to the action first.

“Ma’am.” He inclined his head as she passed, tearing another smile from her.

“Mr Stark.” She swept out of the room with her head held high, as much grace as she could muster in that moment.

They paused in the hallway, awkward now in public in a way they hadn’t been before.

“Play nice,” she finally said. It was really the only thing she could say.

He gave her a mock salute as he turned back to the lab. “I’m always nice. You should know that.”

Later on, before Clint’s attack that she should have seen coming, when he was squaring up to Rogers again, she felt like she should remind him of that.

Even later, after he had flown a nuke up into a wormhole, she thought that maybe she should remind herself of that.


End file.
